Clacton-on-Sea History
1828 A Silver Medal was awarded to William Weekes for rescuing 12 men from the brigantine Graf Von Essen.
1830 A Silver Medal was awarded to Robert Cleave who rescued two men from the wrecked brigantine Craig Elachie.
1843 Silver Medals were awarded to John Glover, Stephen Hurry and John Powell for rescuing 10 men from the rigging of the brigantine Traveller.
1855 Silver Medals were awarded to Captain William Lewis and Captain John Lewis for rescuing the crew from the brigantine Stanton over a period of four days.
1878 The RNLI established a lifeboat station and a boathouse was built in Anglefield with a fence around it to stop cattle from damaging it.
1881 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain Samuel James Robert Legerton for rescuing 16 crew from the lugger Madeleine, which was wrecked on Gunfleet Sands.
1884 Two slipways were built on either side of the pier to improve launching, and the lifeboat was kept on the pier in the winter.
A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain Samuel James Robert Legerton for his efforts during a service to the barge Jesse when the lifeboat capsized with the loss of two of her crew, Second Coxswain James Cross and Crew Member T Cattermole.
1888 Crew Member Benjamin Addis died from the effects of exposure when out on a lifeboat service on 14 January.
1891 A Silver Medal was awarded to Samuel James Robert Legerton when he resigned; he had been Coxswain for about 13 years and helped to save 169 lives.
1893 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain W Schofield for the services to four vessels over a period of 60 hours on 20–22 November.
1894 Silver Medals were awarded to Crew Members Maurice Nicholls, Robert Osborne and John Grier who had been out on service 77, 74 and 67 times respectively.
1899 Silver Medals were awarded to Crew Members Maurice Nicholls, Robert Osborne and George Grigson Snr on their retirement.
1901 The lifeboat was kept at moorings off the pier in the summer and reached by a boarding boat.
1912 The station's first motor lifeboat was placed on service.
1914 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain George James Grigson for rescuing 15 men from the steamship Harlington aground on Gunfleet Sands. The lifeboat was on scene almost continually from 2–5 December.
1915 Silver Medals were awarded to Coxswain George Grigson and Second Coxswain Jesse Salmon for the service to the barque Leading Chief.
1918 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain George Grigson and Bronze Medal to Second Coxswain Jesse Salmon for rescuing 23 crew from the steamship Iris. The rescue took a total of over a 24-hour period in icy cold weather.
1927 A new boathouse and roller slipway were built on the north side of the pier.
1940 A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain Charles Ellis for rescuing five people from the smack Charlotte Ellen and the barge Lorna in gale force winds and very rough seas on 19 November 1939. After an unsuccessful attempt to get alongside the barge the coxswain ran the lifeboat onto the deck and his crew snatched the two crewmen aboard just as the heavy seas washed the lifeboat off.
The Clacton lifeboat Edward Z Dresden was one of the 19 lifeboats which took part in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.
The lifeboat was moored at Brightlingsea in the River Colne as she could no longer be operated from the end of the pier at Clacton; the middle of the pier had been blown up to make it useless to invading forces and so it was not possible to reach the boathouse.
1943 Second Coxswain Frank Castle lost his life on service on 7 April when the barge Tam O'Shanter capsized in heavy weather while being towed by the lifeboat. A memorial plaque can be seen in the boathouse.
1966 An inshore lifeboat station was established with a D class lifeboat that was kept in a building to the west of the pier.
1967 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain George Ellis for rescuing eight people on board the catamaran Yana.
1970 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain Charles Bolingbroke when the lifeboat rescued three men from a converted ship's lifeboat.
1971 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain Charles Bolingbroke for rescuing five people from the yacht Zona and the cabin cruiser Pisces. Framed Letters of Thanks were presented to the remainder of the crew.
1974 The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Coxswain Charles Bolingbroke when the lifeboat saved the motor barge Minnie Ha Ha and her three crew.
1978 A Centenary Vellum was awarded to the station.
1984 The pier boathouse was adapted for a B class Atlantic 21 lifeboat. The all weather lifeboat was withdrawn on 10 August.
1992 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Helmsman David Wells, the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum to Terry M Bolingbroke and a Framed Letter of Thanks to Crew Member Thomas Ridley for rescuing six people from the yacht Two Niner on 1 November 1991. The Ralph Glister Award and the Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award were also awarded for this service.
1998 The boathouse was extended for an Atlantic 75 lifeboat, also providing improved crew facilities.
2006 A new Atlantic and D Class boathouse was completed on 6 September.
Station honours
At Clacton-on-Sea lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 5
Bronze Medal 2
Silver Medal 22
